Informador Tecnico

Exploratory characterization of the EdTech business ecosystem in Colombia

Juan Manuel Aparicio-Camargo — 2024-02-28

This article undertakes a review of the current state of the EdTech business ecosystem in Colombia through exploratory research with a descriptive angle, focusing on the question: is there a characterization of the EdTech business ecosystem in Colombia? The methodology included a review of the state of the art to provide a contextualized view of the current situation of the EdTech industry in Colombia and the consultation of bibliographic sources, selected from online databases following criteria of relevance and reliability, identifying companies, key players, investments, and investors that are part of the ecosystem, resulting in the development of an application called IO Player that functions as a social learning network.

Effect of curing conditions on the mechanical performance of geopolymer cements: a review

Carlos Andrés Bedoya-Henao — 2024-02-15

Considering the potential of geopolymer cements as an alternative to partially substitute Portland cement, this article presents a brief review, where the curing conditions of geopolymer cements are analyzed based on three variables: time, humidity, and temperature. In addition, the behavior of these variables is described according to the curing methods that have been studied and evaluated so far in fly ash-based geopolymer cements. The literature review was conducted using Scopus as the primary search tool, starting from the keyword 'geopolymeric cements.' More than 90 relevant documents were identified after applying specific filters and reviewing their abstracts. Finally, a thorough reading, and analysis of the bibliographic data were performed to extract relevant information for the study topic. The published procedures show that there is no conclusive trend in the curing method for this type of material; however, the most accepted conditions for the development of higher compressive strengths are temperatures between 60 and 80 °C, with controlled humidity (sealed), for a period of 4 to 12 hours. In general, this brief review serves as a guide to propose, study, and apply different curing processes in fly ash-based geopolymer cements.

High costs as a limiting variable in the environmental management of SMEs

Javier Vera-Solano — 2024-06-11

This article aims to find an answer to the research question: Why is it that in SMEs, the high costs of implementing environmental management tools are the greatest limitation when managing within the organization? For this, a location was determined, and an analysis of information contained in studies previously published at national and international levels was carried out. Among the most relevant results of the study, it was possible to determine that in lower-income countries, ISO 14001:2015 certification is more expensive and difficult to implement and maintain over time. For the above reasons, the purpose of environmental management is to achieve sustainability and contribute to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals, but if SMEs do not have the resources and incentives to do so, there will be no way for this sector to contribute to this end. The costs of the audits for certification, the implementation of the standard as such, the lack of incentives and financing, and the paradigm of seeing environmental management as a loss and not as a benefit are the most relevant factors that limit the application of management environment in SMEs.

Perception of vocational training evaluation: An emotional intelligence view

Maritza Valencia-González — 2024-04-23

The purpose of this study is to register the perception of vocational training evaluation from the perspective of apprentices who are in the learning stage of technical and technological programs in the National Learning Service (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, SENA) of the National Center for Technical Assistance to Industry (Centro Nacional de Asistencia Técnica a la Industria, ASTIN). From a sample of 24 courses where 210 apprentices participated, an exploratory study was undertaken using empathy maps to gather information, and descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the results. Using content analysis, dependent and independent variables were identified and analyzed by correlation methods. Results suggest the importance of emotional intelligence in the evaluation process due to its relationship with academic performance. Implications for academia are related to creating an environment where emotions are managed properly. The importance of the study is to point out that emotional aspects can contribute to a better learning process, in the context of vocational training of technologists and technicians.

Classification of Venezuelan insurers with Machine Learning algorithms

Jorge Luis Aquino-Olmos — 2024-04-16

Insurance companies play an important role in a healthy economy, providing a security service for goods and people. The Venezuelan insurance market has faced great challenges in recent decades, in a tight environment where knowing the closest competitors is of paramount importance. The public body that regulates the comparison between insurers has only used the premiums charged as a categorization factor, an additional set of indicators is published. In this study, we make use of five of these indicators used over the last three years and test whether the premiums charged represent a unique ranking characteristic. The vast repertoire of machine learning is able to cope with the significant increase in the number of study variables and their possible groupings. The multivariate analysis of these 18 variables has required the use of the factor analysis method, which allows dimensionality reduction of highly correlated factors. With these new factors, clustering classification is sought using the unsupervised K-Means and Fuzzy C-Means algorithms, comparing their derived clusters with respect to whether the premiums charged represent a determinant clustering characteristic.

Technological development of functionalities with convolutional neural networks for intelligent document management

Erika Marcela Parra-Amaya — 2024-05-25

In the current highly digitized business landscape, efficient document management is crucial for increasing productivity and optimizing organizational processes. This need has been identified in this document, and an enhanced product named Infopoint, an enterprise content management software has been improved to provide intelligent document management through the implementation of advanced automation and artificial intelligence technologies. In document management, numerous processes are still manually executed, leading to errors and delays due to the burden of repetitive tasks. Manual management also causes internal delays and impacts interactions with clients, suppliers, and regulatory entities. Manual document searches consume valuable time and can result in unnecessary costs for the company. Infopoint addresses these challenges by incorporating automation features, particularly leveraging convolutional neural networks. This approach optimizes the functionality of incoming correspondence, reducing processing time by 29 %, on average. It also facilitates text and content searches within PDF documents, decreasing the average search time by 41 %. This article highlights how this improvement significantly reduces the time spent on correspondence management and information retrieval.

ICT as a tool to strengthen the commercialization of the agricultural sector in the department of Nariño

Edgar Fernando Parra-Ortega — 2024-06-27

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a series of challenges to the agricultural sector. Small, medium, and large-scale farmers have been affected as safety measures negatively impacted the sales of their products, resulting in losses. This led to the need to embrace digital platforms as a new way to market their products, which has been challenging due to limited access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in these sectors. This article presents the development of the AgroTIC project, which emerged to address the mentioned needs and was executed applying agile methodologies and Scrum. It proposes strategies to incorporate actions that facilitate and promote the use of e-commerce platforms, eliminating intermediaries and ensuring that transactions are conducted directly with producers. In this way, it aims to improve the socioeconomic sustainability of farmers in the department of Nariño, located in southern Colombia. One of the outcomes obtained after eleven months of project execution is the development of the AgroTIC website., which has seen a total of 2.645 actively interacting users and 325 registered users. The platform has facilitated a total of 718 sales, generating a volume worth approximately 88.942.683 Colombian pesos. These results underscore the positive impact of AgroTIC, enabling transactions and providing an efficient platform to connect farmers with consumers.